# The Sci-Fi Galactic-Squad Cell This is V5's space opera. The Galactic-Squad cell is the Mass Effect surface — the genre where you build a commander, crew a ship, and spend fifty-plus hours deciding _who you are_ one dialogue-wheel choice at a time, then learn at the finale that every one of those choices quietly decided _who lives_. The moment-to-moment loop is **talk, recruit, build a power, plot an FTL jump, land, fight, and come home to a ship full of people who remember what you said** — the genre that lives or dies on whether a squadmate's loyalty feels earned, whether a Paragon interrupt lands on the exact frame the scene gives you, whether a biotic combo detonates because two characters' powers actually chained, and whether the "all hands" suicide run at the end of the campaign turns your roster decisions into a body count you have to own. It is the most narratively ambitious of the five ruleset cells, and the one that most clearly proves V5's thesis from the _story_ side: that a single engine can carry a modern crime sandbox and a trilogy-scale branching squad-RPG on the same spine. The cell is one of two sub-rulesets in V5's Sci-Fi cell. Galactic Squad is the third-person squad-RPG campaign (`V5Mode_SciFi_GalacticSquad`); its sibling, the Expanse-style **Hard Vacuum** ship-sim, shares the same galaxy geography and faction map but flies a Newtonian spaceship instead of commanding a squad on foot — that surface is documented at [./scifi-hard-vacuum.md](./scifi-hard-vacuum.md). This page inventories what the Galactic-Squad stack actually does on the player's side of the screen, and points at the exact Unreal C++ behind each feature. For the full mode taxonomy, roster, and the scope this slots into, start at the hub: [../V5_features.md](../V5_features.md). ## What ships, honestly **The cell's systems are real, compiled, and tested.** The campaign module and every shared core it composes exist under `V5/ue/Source/` with a `Public/`/`Private/` split, a `*.Build.cs`, and a `Private/Tests/` automation spec, and the linker has been through them on this box: `libUnrealEditor-V5SciFiGalacticSquad.so`, `-V5Squad.so`, `-V5StarMap.so`, `-V5Dialogue.so`, and `-V5Spaceship.so` all sit in `V5/ue/Binaries/Linux/`, built by the `ueagent` user (the Squad, StarMap, and Dialogue cores carry 55, 55, and 49 `.o` objects in the build tree). The signature logic is real domain-specific code — a Dijkstra FTL router, a frame-exact interrupt window, a rank-scaled combo-damage formula, a loyalty-gated survival classifier, a bounded trait-vector persona — and each is pinned by UE `IMPLEMENT_SIMPLE_AUTOMATION_TEST` assertions (`V5.SciFiGalacticSquad.CampaignInventory`, `.CreationDialoguePowers`, `.SquadGalaxyEndgame`, `.AIPersonaCompanion`, plus `V5.Squad.LoyaltySurvival`) that check _values_, not truthiness. **"Cell" means a thin campaign module composing shared cores.** Exactly like the urban-crime cell, V5 puts the frame-critical verbs in shared modules and makes the playable sub-ruleset a content-and-validation module. `V5SciFiGalacticSquad.Build.cs` declares dependencies on precisely `V5Core`, `V5Dialogue`, `V5Spaceship`, `V5Squad`, and `V5StarMap` — its job is to _author and validate_ the campaign catalog (78 missions, six endings, the power tree, the eight companions, the opening dialogue tree, the VO plan, the persona) and to _compose_ the shared narrative and locomotion cores into a Mass Effect shape. The novel per-frame algorithms live one layer down in those cores. Both facts are true at once, and the sections below keep them distinct. **The data is C++/JSON catalogs; the art and the in-world shooter are not in this module.** Consistent with V5's 0-binary-`.uasset` accounting, the eight companions are a real validated JSON roster (`Content/V5Squad/Data/squad_roster.json`, 68 companions across all cells), the systems and bodies are catalog structs, and the VO is a _line-count plan_ (`FV5GSCVoiceOverPlan`), not recorded audio — the MetaHuman protagonists, alien-species heads, environment meshes, and the ~98,000 recorded line variants those catalogs reference are _described_ by `FName`/`FSoftObjectPath`/manifest path, not cooked. And two honest seams matter: **the third-person cover-shooter tick is not in `V5SciFiGalacticSquad`** — the module is the campaign/creation/dialogue/galaxy/squad-coordination _brain_, and the real-time biotic-and-gunfire combat runs on the shared combat/GAS stack it feeds. Where a claim depends on art, audio, or the in-world runtime, this page says so. ## The galactic-squad experience — what the cell plays like Strip the campaign down and you get three interlocking authoring spines: a character you build, a galaxy you cross, and a crew you keep. All three are validator-enforced catalogs, and all three feed the same Paragon/Renegade identity that the cross-cell Bureau reads back. ### Protagonist, class, and the 105-node power tree `UV5_GalacticSquad_Catalog::BuildCampaignCatalog` (`V5/ue/Source/V5SciFiGalacticSquad/Private/V5SciFiGalacticSquadSystems.cpp`) is the content spine, and `ValidateCampaignCatalog` (line 1144) refuses anything but the authored shape. Creation offers **three backgrounds** (Military / Colonist / Outlaw, each stamping a `BackgroundFlag`), **24 face presets**, and **six classes** — three base (Soldier / Adept / Engineer) plus three hybrids whose primary/secondary power domains are real data: Vanguard fuses Biotic+Combat, Sentinel Biotic+Tech, Infiltrator Tech+Combat. `BuildProtagonistProfile` validates the whole selection (gender tag in-set, face index in range, background and class authored) and copies the class's starting power tags onto the profile before it returns true — a bad combination returns false, it does not silently coerce. The power tree is **105 nodes — exactly 35 each across Biotic, Tech, and Combat** (`PowerNodesPerDomain = 35`, `TotalPowerNodeCount = 105`), each node carrying a tier, a rank, a class gate, and an upgrade cost of `1 + Tier`. `GetAvailablePowerNodes` filters by class: the `V5.SciFiGalacticSquad.CreationDialoguePowers` spec creates a Sentinel and asserts it sees **70 nodes** (the Biotic and Tech trees, not Combat) — the class restriction is computed, not cosmetic. Three authored combos sit on top (`BuildPowerCombos`): biotic **Lift→Warp** detonates a Biotic Explosion, tech **Overload→Incinerate** a Tech Burst, combat **Armor-break→Killshot** a Combat Shatter — the same primer/detonator grammar the squad uses cooperatively below. ### The dialogue wheel and Paragon/Renegade The signature Mass Effect verb is real and lives in the shared `V5Dialogue` core. `UV5_Dialogue_Wheel::BuildWheelState` (`V5DialogueWheel.cpp`) lays out **six spokes at fixed clock angles** — upper-left 135°, upper-right 45°, left 180°, right 0°, lower-left 225°, lower-right 315° — tinting Paragon/Charm options with the cell's blue flavor and Renegade/Intimidate with its red, and flagging `bHasCharmOrIntimidate` when a rep-gated spoke is present. The opening command tree (`BuildOpeningDialogueTree`) authors all six: a Paragon "evacuate the colony" (+8 Paragon), a Renegade "cut the relay and hit them now" (+8 Renegade), and a **Charm spoke gated at Paragon ≥ 25** plus an **Intimidate spoke gated at Renegade ≥ 25**. That gate is enforced by `UV5_Dialogue_CharmIntimidate::IsOptionUnlocked`, which checks `RequiredParagon`/`RequiredRenegade`/`RequiredReputation` and any `RequiredStateFlag` against the running `FV5DialogueRuntimeState` — accumulating scores genuinely unlock downstream options. The cinematic **interrupt** is the most precise piece: `UV5_Dialogue_Interrupt::EvaluateInterrupt` (`V5DialogueInterrupt.cpp`) fires only when `bPressedThisFrame && CurrentFrame == Window.TriggerFrame` — a literal single-frame window, exactly the "press now or miss it" beat the design promises. And the whole branching record is stateful: choosing an option grants a state flag (`opt.paragon.rescue.chosen`) that the spec confirms downstream blackboard reads can gate on. Crucially, the accumulated Paragon/Renegade pair is _not_ a local score — it is one of the per-cell inputs that `UV5_Honor_KarmaParagonBridge::ComputeMoralCompass` folds into the cross-continuum `MoralCompass [−1,1]`, the same spine the [urban-crime cell](./urban-crime-cell.md) and the rest of V5 share, detailed in [../architecture/hunter-period-systems-and-bureau-spine.md](../architecture/hunter-period-systems-and-bureau-spine.md). ## The squad and starship systems The crew is the cell's emotional anchor, and the `V5Squad` core is where its real algorithms live — the campaign module mostly delegates to it. The diagram below is the honest composition: a thin campaign catalog wiring four shared cores, with two of them (Dialogue's morality, Spaceship's boarding clamp) reaching outward to the rest of V5. ```mermaid flowchart TB subgraph MODE["V5SciFiGalacticSquad — catalog + validate + compose"] GSC["UV5_GalacticSquad_Catalog
78 missions · 3 acts · 6 endings · 105-node power tree"] end subgraph CORES["Shared narrative + locomotion cores"] Squad["V5Squad
8 companions · loyalty · romance · death-state · combos"] Dlg["V5Dialogue
6-spoke wheel · Paragon/Renegade · 1-frame interrupt"] Star["V5StarMap
32 systems · Dijkstra FTL · orbital scan"] Ship["V5Spaceship
Newtonian solver · boarding clamp"] end GSC --> Squad & Dlg & Star & Ship Dlg -->|Paragon/Renegade| Bridge["UV5_Honor_KarmaParagonBridge
→ MoralCompass [-1,1]"] Squad -->|loyalty complete| Survival["all-hands finale
SurvivedEndgame / Killed / Wounded"] Ship -. boarding clamp .-> HV([Hard-Vacuum cell]) Bridge --> Ledger["FV5BureauXPLedger
cross-cell unlocks"] ``` ### Eight companions, loyalty, and romance The roster is real, authored data. `UV5_Squad_RosterLibrary::LoadRoster` parses `squad_roster.json` and the validator (`V5.Squad.RosterCatalog`) insists on **eight Sci-Fi squad companions — four human and four distinct alien species** (the JSON authors Asterian, Keth, Orison, and Virell alongside the four humans), **six of the eight romanceable**, and **at least five loyalty chapters each**. The eight ids are stable (`scifi.kade.roe`, `scifi.mira.vale`, `scifi.juno.hart`, `scifi.silas.crete`, `scifi.ara.vonn`, `scifi.talak.ren`, `scifi.nema.quill`, `scifi.vek.soro`). **Loyalty** is a real gated state machine. `UV5_Squad_LoyaltyArc::EvaluateAvailability` moves a companion from Recruited → TrustBuilding → MissionAvailable only when _both_ the relationship score clears the arc threshold **and** the critical-path beat is complete; below half the threshold it falls back to Recruited. `CompleteArc` then walks every authored chapter, each with its own beat-and-relationship gate, and only the final chapter flips the arc to `MissionComplete` — the state the finale reads. **Romance** is its own gate. `UV5_Squad_RomanceGate::EvaluateRomanceGate` checks, in order: the companion is romanceable, the orientation matches the player identity (`Flexible` accepts anyone; `MalePlayer`/`FemalePlayer` match masc/femme tags), the relationship and chapter thresholds are met, the critical beat is done, and no exclusivity conflict is active. The squad spec proves all three branches: a Flexible companion (Kade) unlocks for a nonbinary player at relationship 90 / chapter 4; a gender-locked companion (Mira) _rejects_ a mismatched identity; and pursuing two arcs in the same `ConflictGroup` surfaces `bConflict` with an `Ended` state — the chapter-4 confrontation the design calls for. ### The all-hands finale — who lives, who dies This is the cell's payoff, and it is a strict classifier, not a cutscene flag. `UV5_Squad_DeathState::ResolveEndgameSurvival` (`V5SquadDeathState.cpp`) walks every Sci-Fi mission companion against an `FV5SquadEndgameAssignment` (who runs the diversion, who pilots the escape, who holds the chokepoint) and resolves each one: a **loyalty-complete** companion is `SurvivedEndgame` ("survival branch locked in"); a companion **assigned to a critical role without loyalty completion** is `Killed` ("assigned to an all-hands critical role without loyalty completion"); everyone else is `Wounded` — alive but out of the epilogue defense. `bPerfectSurvival` is true only when every squadmate survives and the death list is empty. The `V5.Squad.LoyaltySurvival` spec drives both outcomes: with all eight arcs complete, perfect survival, zero deaths; demote Kade to TrustBuilding while keeping him on the chokepoint, and the report names him a death. Loyalty is mechanically _the_ survival currency. ### Squad power combos Out in the field, the combo grammar goes cooperative. `UV5_Squad_PowerCombo::EvaluatePowerCombo` requires **two distinct companions**, each genuinely exposing the requested primer/detonator tag, then matches the pair against the authored combo table (lift+warp → Biotic Explosion, overload+incinerate → Tech Burst, armor-break+killshot → Combat Shatter, plus a cross-cell takedown for frontier/hunter/urban tag pairs). The damage is rank-scaled, not a constant: `DamageMultiplier = 1.5 + (clamp(PrimerRank,1,5) + clamp(DetonatorRank,1,5)) · 0.15` — **3.0×** at twin rank-5 powers (the `SquadGalaxyEndgame` spec's case), **1.8×** at the rank-1 floor. The campaign module's `CoordinatePowerCombo` wraps this with a "Squad combo synchronized." tactical callout and an ordered two-power queue, every failure path returning a human-readable reason rather than a silent no-op. ### Kade Roe — the adaptive persona, labeled honestly The "Full-Vision AI-persona companion" is sci-fi-cell-only, and it is worth being exact about what it _is_: **not a generative model or an LLM, but a deterministic, privacy-bounded trait-vector accumulator.** `BuildAIPersonaCompanion` authors Kade with **five trait vectors** (Empathy 0.62, Resolve 0.58, Caution 0.50, Curiosity 0.66, Candor 0.54), **six learning signals**, and **six memory slots**. `ApplyPlayerChoiceSignal` only mutates state when the signal is one of the six _authored_ signals (matched by id and choice tag) **and** the cell-guard passes — the persona must be `EV5Cell::SciFi`, `bSciFiCellOnly`, `bLocalProfileOnly`, and `bNoCrossCellTraining`, or the call returns the input state unchanged. When it does apply, it bumps `ObservedChoiceCount`, clamps trust into `[0,100]` (starting at 50), shifts Paragon/Renegade affinity, retains the choice and memory tags, and nudges each named trait by its authored delta — every delta validated to be **≤ 0.10** so the persona drifts gradually. The `AIPersonaCompanion` spec confirms a rescue choice raises trust and Paragon affinity by 8 while leaving Renegade at 0, and that flipping the cell to Urban **blocks all learning**. Release-gate data lives at `fullvision_scifi_ai_persona_companion_manifest.json`. It is a transparent, save-local, auditable state machine — the honest opposite of a black-box model. ### The galaxy map and FTL Travel is the shared `V5StarMap` core, and its routing is genuine graph search. `UV5_StarMap_FTLPlot::PlotFTLRoute` runs **Dijkstra's algorithm over the route graph weighted by fuel cost**, returning a typed status — `UnknownSystem`, `SameSystem`, `NoRoute`, `InsufficientFuel`, or `Valid` — and reconstructing the system-and-route path by back-walking predecessors. Unknown routes are skipped unless the request explicitly allows them, and a plotted path is re-checked for missing route ids before it validates. The campaign's galaxy is the **32-system, 120-body** map the catalog asserts; arriving plays a **15-second FTL cinematic** (`BuildTransitCinematic`) with five keyframes at 0 / 2.25 / 7.5 / 12.75 / 15 s, lerping the camera between system coordinates and pulsing a `sin(α·π)` star-stretch at mid-transit. At a body, the orbital-scan minigame (`UV5_StarMap_OrbitalScan`) computes a clamped reveal: `gain = clamp(accuracy·52 + scannerGrade·13 − scanDifficulty·4.5, 5, 60)`, and only at 100% does it surface the body's minerals, anomalies, and any derelict signal — a real formula over pulse accuracy, scanner grade, and authored difficulty. ### Ship-hub and the corvette — the seam to Hard Vacuum Between missions the player's ship is the hub. `BuildShipHubState` authors a five-room interior (Bridge, Mess, Wardroom, Engineering, Bunks) and schedules all eight companions through `UV5_Squad_HubInteraction::BuildShipWalkingSchedule`, which roams each companion along their authored route and carries their banter tags — the "walk the Normandy and talk to your crew" loop, as data. The starship _flight_ itself is the shared `V5Spaceship` Newtonian solver, which this cell touches at exactly one seam: **boarding**. The Year-1 privateer corvette is an `FV5GSCCorvetteVariantDefinition` whose validator requires an `EV5ShipClass::Corvette` tuned for 3–6 crew and a `hardpoint.boarding_clamp` — and boarding hands off to the squad-combat ruleset described here. The deterministic Newtonian integrator, the magnetic clamp gate, and the PDC/railgun/torpedo intercept math belong to the [Hard Vacuum cell](./scifi-hard-vacuum.md) and are documented in full, with line citations, in the architecture companion [../architecture/spaceship-vehicles-and-mounts.md](../architecture/spaceship-vehicles-and-mounts.md). ## Endings and Year-1 expansions The campaign resolves into **six endings** — three factions (Alliance, Colonial Assembly, Black Star Syndicate) each in an Aligned or Independent state. `BuildEndings` makes the Independent branches _cost_ more: a required faction score of **75 and perfect squad survival**, versus **65** for Aligned — so the cleanest ending demands both the political capital and the loyalty work. Three validator-gated expansions extend the galaxy without drift. The Year-1 **Pirate Coast** DLC authors **12 missions totalling 10 hours**, the low-security Nereid Reach system (five bodies, security 0.18), a fully-authored new companion (Lyra Voss, five loyalty chapters), and the privateer corvette — with `EvaluateMissionAccess` gating later missions on _both_ Lyra being active and the corvette equipped. The Year-1 **Helio Verge** sector adds six systems, fifteen bodies, and one new faction (Helio Forge Compact), its validator demanding every body type and at least two derelict signals. The Full-Vision **Long Tomorrow** DLC adds four systems, twenty bodies, and six FTL routes behind a real **BFS reachability proof** — `IsLongTomorrowRouteGraphConnected` confirms every new system connects back to the Maia Shoal anchor before the catalog validates, with two hidden late-sector routes. These are authored catalogs with id-drift guards; the playable geometry behind them is described, not cooked. ## Where this connects The Galactic-Squad cell is one face of a single game, and it hands off at well-defined seams: - **Its own sibling.** The Expanse-style Hard Vacuum ship-sim shares this cell's galaxy, factions, and the `V5Spaceship` boarding seam, but flies a Newtonian spaceship instead of commanding a squad — see [./scifi-hard-vacuum.md](./scifi-hard-vacuum.md). - **The other expert-RPG cell.** The Monster-Hunter cell shares the companion roster library, the dialogue core, and the cross-cell honor bridge but spends them on a Witcher-style contract hunt — see [./monster-hunter-cell.md](./monster-hunter-cell.md). - **Architecture companion.** The deterministic ship solver, the boarding clamp, and the PDC/railgun/torpedo intercept math the corvette plugs into are documented with line citations in [../architecture/spaceship-vehicles-and-mounts.md](../architecture/spaceship-vehicles-and-mounts.md), and the Paragon/Renegade → MoralCompass → Bureau-XP spine in [../architecture/hunter-period-systems-and-bureau-spine.md](../architecture/hunter-period-systems-and-bureau-spine.md). - The feature hub: [../V5_features.md](../V5_features.md).